Even Dark Ones Cry
by Oncerx3
Summary: Some Emma/Snow fluff set in S5, during the Charmings time spent in Camelot.


**I want to apologize for the lack of updates. But school and work is calming down so I hope to have a steady stream updates for my other undoing stories.**

 **Okay, first, who saw that mid season finale? Like whoa! Ahh! I'm hyped.**

 **Second, here's a little one-shot centered around the Charming's time in Camelot. I hope you enjoy! I also want to say that I am taking prompts for one-shot or short stories (particularly Charming Family, Swanfire, or CaptainSwan)**

Even Dark Ones Cry

A couple of weeks spent in Camelot and every night thus far had been going the same: Emma locking herself away in her bed chambers.

Snow and Charming were in their own sleeping quarters, Charming having just rocked baby Neal to sleep when he couldn't help but notice Snow's fallen expression.

"Emma?" he questioned, his voice soft.

Snow gave a faint nod, her gaze lost, her thoughts miles away.

"She may be by herself in her room… but I doubt she truly wants to be alone," he said, his eyes on Neal as he watched him sleep.

Snow's lips curved to a small smile. "Thank you, Charming."

With the encouraging words, Snow stood to her feet and walked towards the door, only stopping to give her baby and husband each a quick kiss. Then she quietly padded down the darkened hallway, the only dim illumination coming from the various candles that were strategically placed along the hallway. When Snow approached Emma's door, she gave a light knock to the thick wood. When she received no answer in return, she put her ear to the door. Nothing. She frowned and was about to turn away in defeat when the door cracked open. Snow's brows furrowed. The door opened wider, enough for Snow to be met with her daughter's blue eyes.

"Hi," Emma said, but her voice was so quiet.

"Magic?" Snow asked while entering the room.

"Not dark... I could always move things with my mind."

Snow gave a nod as she walked further inside, closing the door behind her. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind some company."

Emma showed her mother a small smile. "I know what you're trying to do and as much as I wish It would work... it won't."

"Emma-"

"I can pretend to be happy. I can try and let go and have a good time... smile...It doesn't matter. The darkness will still be inside of me.I'll still be the most powerful evil there is, and for what? Regina? Gold? They both screwed me over plenty of times. Why I sacrificed myself for _her_ , I'll never know. She's done plenty of evil things. Who knows how many people she's killed, right? If anyone deserved to take on the darkness, it's Regina. But like an idiot, I took it for her. And look what it's done to me."

Snow wanted to cry. In fact she had been crying. Most every night in Camelot had been filled with tears. Signs of the darkness surfacing in her daughter made Snow's heart fill with anger and sadness. Why had this happened to Emma? Why did bad things keep happening to her baby girl? Why couldn't she fix this? Snow felt completely out of control. As a parent, her job was to protect her daughter and she felt that all she has done was fail over and over again at her most important job.

Snow forced her eyes to stay dry of tears. She looked to her daughter and gestured to the empty spot on the bed. "May I?"

Emma nodded.

Snow sat next to Emma and silence enveloped the room. There were a million things Snow wanted to say but before she could organize her thoughts, Emma's voice broke the quiet.

"Is Henry afraid of me?"

The question took Snow by surprise. Still, she was sure of the answer.

"No, of course not."

Emma's eyes went to the floor. When she spoke next, it was with hesitation. "Maybe he should be... maybe you should keep him away from me."

"No, absolutely not," Snow argued with a firm shake of her head. "I don't care the power you have; you would never hurt your son."

Only she did. She ripped Violet's heart from her chest, using the girl as a pawn to break her own son's heart. Over and over, Emma tried to rationalize that it was for good reason. That Violet wasn't hurt. That it was the only way to free Merlin... Still, the thought of what she did filled her heart with regret and her eyes with tears.

"Emma?" Snow questioned. Her forehead crinkled in confusion at the water drops falling from her daughter's eyes. "Emma, its okay. It will all be okay... we made progress today. You freed Merlin. We're one step closer to defeating the darkness."

Emma shook her head as the tears continued to fall. "If Henry finds out, he'll hate me."

Snow frowned in confusion as she reached to wipe a trail of tears from Emma's cheeks. "Finds out what?"

"I can't take it back. I can't undo it," Emma continued to cry. "But it was the only way. I had to."

"Emma, look at me," Snow said, her voice soft.

Emma looked to her mother while wiping away fresh tears.

"Take a breath. A deep breath."

Doing as she was told, Emma let a ball of air fill her lungs as her eyes fell closed. She released the breath quietly, her gaze traveling to the bed covers.

Snow reached for Emma's hand, swaying her thumb back and forth across Emma's knuckles. "Tell me what happened," Snow requested.

And she did. Emma told her mother how she took a young girl's heart and tricked her son into providing the tears needed for the potion to free Merlin. After she finished explaining, Emma was left crying, her body shaking.

"I don't know what's happening to me," she said in a rush. "I feel like I've been split in half, part of me still good and part of me bad It's like there's always a war going on in my head. His voice is always talking, always telling me to do evil, to embrace the darkness and I can't handle it. I'm fighting a battle I can't win."

With a deep frown full of worry, Snow pulled Emma close. But she didn't didn't have to hold on very tight as Emma put her check to her mother's shoulder and let Snow embrace her.

Snow felt her own eyes watering, unable to hold back her emotions any longer as she felt Emma's tears landing on her neck. "This is completely unfair to you, Emma… I just… I wish I could make this better for you… you've spent your whole life fighting for everything you have and you're having to do it again, and…" Snow shook her head, her words trailing as she was at a loss. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to try and collect herself. She could deal with her worries later. Right now she had to focus on Emma. She had to do whatever she could to sooth her daughter's fears. "Merlin's been freed. Tomorrow you will set out on a quest with him, one that I _know_ will help us get closer to freeing you of the darkness. But you have to hold on, Emma. You can't give in. You can't give up."

Emma's breathing was erratic, her heart beating fast as the anxiety had taken over. She had many anxiety attacks as a child. But as she grew older she found a way to cope, to stop them from paralyzing her… it had been quite some time since she'd been filled with so much fear, so much uncertainty that she couldn't control the anxiety.

Snow could hear Emma taking fast, loud breathes. She tipped her chin down and looked to her daughter's face, Emma's eyes closed as the tears continued to pour.

"Sweetheart, no, please, don't do this to yourself."

"I'm… sorry," Emma hiccuped.

"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for… but I do need you to promise me something."

Emma opened her eyes and looked up to her mother as she she began to finally slow her breathing.

"Don't shut yourself away anymore. Let your family be there. Let us help you… please."

Emma gave a small nod while carefully breaking away from her mother. She closed her eyes and put her hand to her chest, feeling relieved that her heart rate was starting to steady. She wiped her face of the fallen tears and sat up a little straighter. When she looked to her mother, there was nothing but worry in Snow's eyes.

"I'm okay… sorry about that."

"Please, stop apologizing."

"Sorry."

"Emma," Snow warned.

She gave a small smile. Snow matched the curve of her lips.

"There we go. A smile."

Emma rolled her eyes but couldn't help the small curve of her lips.

"Your father is asleep with your brother. I'm certainly ready for bed, but I'd hate to have to risk waking them."

"You could stay here," Emma offered, her voice small. "I mean I know it's only one bed but… well, we had a couple of sleepovers like that in the past."

"Yes, we did."

"The good ole days, huh? No magic. No danger. I was just focused on Henry and you were… well, you were my best friend."

"And I hope that I still am."

Emma nodded in confirmation.

"Good," Snow said while standing to her feet and moving to the large wooden trunk at the food of the bed. She pulled out two large throw blankets. "It's getting late. What do you say we snuggle in?"

Emma nodded while moving to the far side of the large bed, what Emma guessed to be a Queen sized mattress. She accepted the grey throw blanket Snow held out to her, watching as her mother settled in beside her.

"Thanks for letting me stay."

With a grin, Emma said, "Thanks for pretending that wasn't your whole objective to begin with."

Snow smiled.

 **The End**

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


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